Shoutout to the artist who showed me my layer order was backwards

I was scrolling through a digital art showcase last Tuesday and saw this painter's before and after of a portrait. The 'before' had muddy colors and flat shading, but the 'after' was crisp and deep. Turns out I had been putting shadows on top of highlights this whole time. Has anyone else had a simple layer order change suddenly make your work pop?

2 comments

2 Comments

henry_palmer241mo ago

And honestly, half the battle is just figuring out if your software even lets you do what you're trying to do. Some programs lock layers in weird ways or make you merge stuff before you can reorder it. I've been using the same app for years and just found a setting last week that flipped my whole workflow. It's wild how one tiny adjustment can make you feel like you've been drawing wrong your whole life, but at least you caught it now rather than never.

sean_park81mo ago

That setting you found, what was it exactly?